Let me illustrate: I have GE, I had it within 10 days of applying. Mr. 999 applied to Nexus. It's taken him months to try to schedule the interview. First he couldn't get an appointment at the times he was already scheduled to go to Canada. Then he couldn't get a reasonably priced flight at the time an appointment was available.

At this point, I'm encouraging him to book a cheap trip to SEA to interview there but they are only open M-F and he can't take off from work. YVR is open on weekends but the fares there have gone insane.

So, five months after being conditionally approved he's still scheduling and re-scheduling his interview, all to save $50 vs just applying for Global Entry (or to save $100 if he was going to get both eventually).